One Step Further’s Traffic Diversion Program tries to keep teens in Guilford County out of trouble; and, to aid in that effort, on Thursday, Aug. 1, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners accepted a grant from the NC Department of Public Safety that will assist in funding that program for fiscal year 2024-2025, the 12-month period that just began on July 1, 2024.

The state’s Department of Public Safety is handing over the nearly $40,000 grant to Guilford County so the county, with some county taxpayer money added in, can support the “Guilford Teen Traffic Diversion Pilot Program.”

That initiative provides 16 to 18 year olds charged with traffic offenses the opportunity “to be diverted from adult court while addressing potential causes for the offense and increasing public safety.”

The idea is that, rather than let those teens fall into the county’s judicial system and be charged as adults, they can, instead, with work and good behavior, get the charges wiped from their records and get onto a life path that leads them away from incarceration. In the age range, the teens are considered young enough for early intervention programs to help put them on a straight and narrow path.

If the teens follow the rules of the program, don’t break the law again and complete the requirements, they can keep their criminal records clean.

 In order to complete the program and get their charges dismissed, the teens must, among other things, complete a class called “Alive at 25.”

Program leaders expect to serve about 80 youths in the county between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.

Those in the program average 30 days of participation.

The state’s Department of Public Safety will take on all responsibilities for vetting the program’s services and expenditures and will disburse funds to Guilford County monthly to reimburse One Step Further’s Traffic Diversion Program costs.

Guilford County employees won’t be required to complete any monitoring or financial reviews.

This is just one of the One Step Further programs Guilford County helps fund along with state grant money.  Other One Step Further programs include a community service restitution program, Guilford County’s Teen Court initiative, and a  Junior-Senior Life Skills program.

The traffic program hopes to prevent – through diversion programming – the long-lasting negative effects of criminal charges placed on teens.

It also attempts to increase public safety by lowering the risk of automobile crashes, which is higher among those 16 to 19 years of age – greater than it is for any other age group.